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Li M, Liu M, Qi F, Lin FR, Jen AKY. Self-Assembled Monolayers for Interfacial Engineering in Solution-Processed Thin-Film Electronic Devices: Design, Fabrication, and Applications. Chem Rev 2024; 124:2138-2204. [PMID: 38421811 DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.3c00396] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/02/2024]
Abstract
Interfacial engineering has long been a vital means of improving thin-film device performance, especially for organic electronics, perovskites, and hybrid devices. It greatly facilitates the fabrication and performance of solution-processed thin-film devices, including organic field effect transistors (OFETs), organic solar cells (OSCs), perovskite solar cells (PVSCs), and organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). However, due to the limitation of traditional interfacial materials, further progress of these thin-film devices is hampered particularly in terms of stability, flexibility, and sensitivity. The deadlock has gradually been broken through the development of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs), which possess distinct benefits in transparency, diversity, stability, sensitivity, selectivity, and surface passivation ability. In this review, we first showed the evolution of SAMs, elucidating their working mechanisms and structure-property relationships by assessing a wide range of SAM materials reported to date. A comprehensive comparison of various SAM growth, fabrication, and characterization methods was presented to help readers interested in applying SAM to their works. Moreover, the recent progress of the SAM design and applications in mainstream thin-film electronic devices, including OFETs, OSCs, PVSCs and OLEDs, was summarized. Finally, an outlook and prospects section summarizes the major challenges for the further development of SAMs used in thin-film devices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mingliang Li
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong 999077, China
- Hong Kong Institute for Clean Energy, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong 999077, China
| | - Ming Liu
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong 999077, China
- Hong Kong Institute for Clean Energy, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong 999077, China
| | - Feng Qi
- Department of Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong 999077, China
- Hong Kong Institute for Clean Energy, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong 999077, China
| | - Francis R Lin
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong 999077, China
- Department of Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong 999077, China
- Hong Kong Institute for Clean Energy, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong 999077, China
| | - Alex K-Y Jen
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong 999077, China
- Department of Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong 999077, China
- Hong Kong Institute for Clean Energy, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong 999077, China
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, United States
- State Key Laboratory of Marine Pollution, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong 999077, China
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Chou YW, Chang SY, Keng PY. Thermal Stability and Orthogonal Functionalization of Organophosphonate Self-Assembled Monolayers as Potential Liners for Cu Interconnect. ACS OMEGA 2023; 8:39699-39708. [PMID: 37901487 PMCID: PMC10601072 DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.3c05629] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2023] [Accepted: 09/29/2023] [Indexed: 10/31/2023]
Abstract
In this study, we investigated the thermal stabilities of butylphosphonic acid (BPA) and aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) self-assembled monolayers (SAM) on a Si substrate. The thermal desorption and the thermal cleavage of the BPA and APTES SAM film on the Si substrate were studied by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) upon thermal treatment from 50 to 550 °C. XPS analyses show that the onset of the thermal desorption of the APTES monolayer occurs at 250 °C and the APTES SAM completely decomposed at 400 °C. Conversely, BPA SAM on Si shows that the onset of thermal desorption occurs at 350 °C, and the BPA SAM completely desorbed at approximately 500 °C. Our study revealed that the organophosphonate SAM is a more stable SAM in modifying the dielectric sidewalls of a Cu interconnect when compared to organosilane SAM. To overcome the spontaneous reaction of the organophosphonate film on the metal substrate, a simple orthogonal functionalization method using thiolate SAM as a sacrificial layer was also demonstrated in this study.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yu-Wei Chou
- Department of Materials Science
and Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 300, Taiwan
| | - Shou-Yi Chang
- Department of Materials Science
and Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 300, Taiwan
| | - Pei Yuin Keng
- Department of Materials Science
and Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 300, Taiwan
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Zhao B, Gothe B, Groh A, Schmaltz T, Will J, Steinrück HG, Unruh T, Mecking S, Halik M. Oligothiophene Phosphonic Acids for Self-Assembled Monolayer Field-Effect Transistors. ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES 2021; 13:32461-32466. [PMID: 34213306 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.1c05764] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Semiconducting self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) represent highly relevant components for the fabrication of organic thin-film electronics because they enable the precise formation of active π-conjugates in terms of orientation and layer thickness. In this work, we demonstrate self-assembled monolayer field-effect transistors (SAMFETs) composed of phosphonic acid oligomers of 3-hexylthiophene (oligothiophenes-OT) with systematic variations of thiophene repeating units (5, 10, and 20). The devices exhibit stable lateral charge transport with increased mobility as a function of thiophene unit counts. Importantly, our work reveals the packing and intermolecular order of varied-chain-length SAMs at the molecular scale via X-ray reflectivity (XRR) and quantitative X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Short oligomers (OT5-PA and OT10-PA) arrange almost perpendicular to the substrate, forming highly ordered SAMs, whereas the long-chain OT20-PA exhibits a folded structure. By tuning the molecular order in the monolayers via the SAM substitution reaction, the OT20-PA devices show a tripling in mobility.
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Affiliation(s)
- Baolin Zhao
- Organic Materials & Devices, Institute of Polymer Materials, Department of Materials Science, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, IZNF, Cauerstraße 3, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
| | - Bastian Gothe
- Organic Materials & Devices, Institute of Polymer Materials, Department of Materials Science, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, IZNF, Cauerstraße 3, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
| | - Arthur Groh
- Chair of Chemical Materials Science, Department of Chemistry, University of Konstanz, 78457 Konstanz, Germany
| | - Thomas Schmaltz
- Institute of Materials, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Laboratory of Macromolecular and Organic Materials, EPFL-STI-IMX-LMOM, Station 12, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Johannes Will
- Crystallography and Structural Physics, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Staudtstraße 3, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
- Institute of Micro- and Nanostructure Research & Center for Nanoanalysis and Electron Microscopy (CENEM), Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), IZNF, Cauerstraße 3, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
| | | | - Tobias Unruh
- Crystallography and Structural Physics, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Staudtstraße 3, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
| | - Stefan Mecking
- Chair of Chemical Materials Science, Department of Chemistry, University of Konstanz, 78457 Konstanz, Germany
| | - Marcus Halik
- Organic Materials & Devices, Institute of Polymer Materials, Department of Materials Science, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, IZNF, Cauerstraße 3, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
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Lee HJ, Cho SJ, Kang H, He X, Yoon HJ. Achieving Ultralow, Zero, and Inverted Tunneling Attenuation Coefficients in Molecular Wires with Extended Conjugation. SMALL (WEINHEIM AN DER BERGSTRASSE, GERMANY) 2021; 17:e2005711. [PMID: 33543557 DOI: 10.1002/smll.202005711] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2020] [Revised: 10/22/2020] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Molecular tunnel junctions are organic devices miniaturized to the molecular scale. They serve as a versatile toolbox that can systematically examine charge transport behaviors at the atomic level. The electrical conductance of the molecular wire that bridges the two electrodes in a junction is significantly influenced by its chemical structure, and an intrinsically poor conductance is a major barrier for practical applications toward integrating individual molecules into electronic circuitry. Therefore, highly conjugated molecular wires are attractive as active components for the next-generation electronic devices, owing to the narrow highest occupied molecular orbital-lowest occupied molecular orbital gaps provided by their extended π-building blocks. This article aims to highlight the significance of highly conductive molecular wires in molecular electronics, the structures of which are inspired from conductive organic polymers, and presents a body of discussion on molecular wires exhibiting ultralow, zero, or inverted attenuation of tunneling probability at different lengths, along with future directions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hyun Ju Lee
- Department of Chemistry, Korea University, Seoul, 02841, South Korea
| | - Soo Jin Cho
- Department of Chemistry, Korea University, Seoul, 02841, South Korea
| | - Hungu Kang
- Department of Chemistry, Korea University, Seoul, 02841, South Korea
| | - Xin He
- Department of Chemistry, Korea University, Seoul, 02841, South Korea
| | - Hyo Jae Yoon
- Department of Chemistry, Korea University, Seoul, 02841, South Korea
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Chen H, Zhang W, Li M, He G, Guo X. Interface Engineering in Organic Field-Effect Transistors: Principles, Applications, and Perspectives. Chem Rev 2020; 120:2879-2949. [PMID: 32078296 DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.9b00532] [Citation(s) in RCA: 94] [Impact Index Per Article: 23.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Heterogeneous interfaces that are ubiquitous in optoelectronic devices play a key role in the device performance and have led to the prosperity of today's microelectronics. Interface engineering provides an effective and promising approach to enhancing the device performance of organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) and even developing new functions. In fact, researchers from different disciplines have devoted considerable attention to this concept, which has started to evolve from simple improvement of the device performance to sophisticated construction of novel functionalities, indicating great potential for further applications in broad areas ranging from integrated circuits and energy conversion to catalysis and chemical/biological sensors. In this review article, we provide a timely and comprehensive overview of current efficient approaches developed for building various delicate functional interfaces in OFETs, including interfaces within the semiconductor layers, semiconductor/electrode interfaces, semiconductor/dielectric interfaces, and semiconductor/environment interfaces. We also highlight the major contributions and new concepts of integrating molecular functionalities into electrical circuits, which have been neglected in most previous reviews. This review will provide a fundamental understanding of the interplay between the molecular structure, assembly, and emergent functions at the molecular level and consequently offer novel insights into designing a new generation of multifunctional integrated circuits and sensors toward practical applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hongliang Chen
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, State Key Laboratory for Structural Chemistry of Unstable and Stable Species, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, P. R. China
| | - Weining Zhang
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, State Key Laboratory for Structural Chemistry of Unstable and Stable Species, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, P. R. China
| | - Mingliang Li
- Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Peking University, Beijing 100871, P. R. China
| | - Gen He
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, State Key Laboratory for Structural Chemistry of Unstable and Stable Species, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, P. R. China
| | - Xuefeng Guo
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, State Key Laboratory for Structural Chemistry of Unstable and Stable Species, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, P. R. China.,Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Peking University, Beijing 100871, P. R. China.,Department of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, P. R. China
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Narayanan T, Konovalov O. Synchrotron Scattering Methods for Nanomaterials and Soft Matter Research. MATERIALS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2020; 13:E752. [PMID: 32041363 PMCID: PMC7040635 DOI: 10.3390/ma13030752] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2019] [Revised: 01/29/2020] [Accepted: 01/31/2020] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
This article aims to provide an overview of broad range of applications of synchrotron scattering methods in the investigation of nanoscale materials. These scattering techniques allow the elucidation of the structure and dynamics of nanomaterials from sub-nm to micron size scales and down to sub-millisecond time ranges both in bulk and at interfaces. A major advantage of scattering methods is that they provide the ensemble averaged information under in situ and operando conditions. As a result, they are complementary to various imaging techniques which reveal more local information. Scattering methods are particularly suitable for probing buried structures that are difficult to image. Although, many qualitative features can be directly extracted from scattering data, derivation of detailed structural and dynamical information requires quantitative modeling. The fourth-generation synchrotron sources open new possibilities for investigating these complex systems by exploiting the enhanced brightness and coherence properties of X-rays.
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Huber S, Mecking S. Straightforward Synthesis of Conjugated Block Copolymers by Controlled Suzuki–Miyaura Cross-Coupling Polymerization Combined with ATRP. Macromolecules 2019. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.9b01165] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Steffen Huber
- Chair of Chemical Materials Science, Department of Chemistry, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstraße 10, 78464 Konstanz, Germany
| | - Stefan Mecking
- Chair of Chemical Materials Science, Department of Chemistry, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstraße 10, 78464 Konstanz, Germany
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